I Am Amazed

I've always known that my mother was amazing, not in the cliche sense of the word, but in it's truest, purest meaning. She amazed the world by bringing 8 children to it for starters. She amazed my father by the ease that she cared for them with. Meals were made, the home was kept clean, the children always looked nice when they needed to and dirty when they didn't need to--you know, just the way children should look. She amazed Dad even more that she could do all this on hand-me-downs and a farmer's budget. She amazed a West Texas community with her dedication to our minority faith. A 50 mile trip, one way, was just part of keeping that faith. She had that suburban on auto pilot. It knew how to get her to Primary and Relief Society presidency meetings, Sunday worship, mutual, and WalMart. It also knew to stop at Albertson's on Saturday nights for a dozen glazed donuts for the trip home. She amazed the little league by getting 4 to 7 kids uniformed and in pigtails, while simultaneously, running the concessions for the entire league, all while cheering for every base run, point scored, and out thrown. She amazed me by her ability to see everything I was doing, and everything I was doing wrong. I still don't know how she always knew. Were there not 7 other children to be minding to? The fact that she ran a household of 10 with only one bathroom is amazing in and of itself.

When she became a single mother at age 40, moved her family to AZ on her own, reentered the workplace, then became a full-time student again after 20+ years, my amazement of her seemed as if it had peaked; through it all she was still mothering her children through cheer, basketball, dance, fights, break-ups, breakdowns, college, marriage, and playing Nana to 16 grandchildren.

That is until I had my own son, and became a mother myself. It's one thing to watch a mother, appreciate a mother, recognize a mother for her life of selfless service. But it is when you experience being a mother that your amazement becomes awe and then quiet and reverent respect. It is now that I truly know what a mother's love is. That depth only humbles me more, for now I know just how amazing my mother really is.

Happy Mother's Day Mom. I Love You...and no, I won't remove this post, and you can't do anything about it.